In a brief press release, it was revealed that Qadbak Investments, Ltd, a swiss-based foundation which represents the private interests of Middle Eastern and European based families will purchase the Sauber F1 team. The contract was officially signed today after BMW felt comfortable that the team would be financially taken care of by the new owners. BMW has wished the team every success and so do we!

Also worth noting is that immediately after the sale was announced the FIA gave the final slot for next season to..... Lotus. Sauber and their new partners are pencilled in at the 14th slot which is a fill in if someone drops out or if the field is officially expanded. Basically, Sauber will not be racing unless someone pulls out or FIA increases to 28 cars- which would also require rewriting the points system etc.

i am not a huge follower of F1, but i love BMW. i dont understand why they left F1. Sorry they have been non-competitive....but just like NASCAR, learn from the mistakes, and make your teams better. differant league of racing, but same basic concept.

i am not a huge follower of F1, but i love BMW. i dont understand why they left F1. Sorry they have been non-competitive....but just like NASCAR, learn from the mistakes, and make your teams better. differant league of racing, but same basic concept.

F1 is extremely expensive and really does not translate into production vehicles. BMW was using F1 as part marketing and it is not real effective for that either.

They will be saving a lot of euro (some estimate 500 million+) just by not competing and they can use some of that money for other Motorsports activities and the rest for building more efficient and lighter weight cars...

To me it is a no brainer. This is the same reason Honda got out as well.

I love F1 more than BMW. Soon after the announcement I got back my deposit for the X6M. I really disagreed with BMW pushing KERS on the sport. The fact that they abandoned that tech somewhat foreshadowed their exit. I just hope their decision doesn't kill the Sauber team. I got my M3 in part because of F1 lineage. Efficient dynamics is a much harder sell than a throttle body for each cylinder. At least to me...

I love F1 more than BMW. Soon after the announcement I got back my deposit for the X6M. I really disagreed with BMW pushing KERS on the sport. The fact that they abandoned that tech somewhat foreshadowed their exit. I just hope their decision doesn't kill the Sauber team. I got my M3 in part because of F1 lineage. Efficient dynamics is a much harder sell than a throttle body for each cylinder. At least to me...

Why did BMW leaving F1 have anything to do with you pulling the deposit on your X6M?

Why did BMW leaving F1 have anything to do with you pulling the deposit on your X6M?

Because if participating in F1 costs too much for BMW, leaving F1 cost them my business. I'd rather save my 90K+ towards a Ferrari or the new SLS or any product made by a manufacturer that will continue to participate in F1.

Because if participating in F1 costs too much for BMW, leaving F1 cost them my business. I'd rather save my 90K+ towards a Ferrari or the new SLS or any product made by a manufacturer that will continue to participate in F1.

How about a Toyota Corolla...they're still in F1....(unless Panasonic Toyota pull out during Winter break like Honda did...)
or some Renault....

well...i won't make my vehicle decision just based on the manufacture participance in Formula 1.....

I think BMW rather save 500+ million Euro than just earn 90k car from you....

Even if BMW doesn't succeed in F1 this season...doesn't mean in other motorsport they are a failure too....look at ALMS....the E92 M3s are doing quite good.....and BMW never say they WILL never return to F1....

How about a Toyota Corolla...they're still in F1....(unless Panasonic Toyota pull out during Winter break like Honda did...)
or some Renault....

well...i won't make my vehicle decision just based on the manufacture participance in Formula 1.....

I think BMW rather save 500+ million Euro than just earn 90k car from you....

Even if BMW doesn't succeed in F1 this season...doesn't mean in other motorsport they are a failure too....look at ALMS....the E92 M3s are doing quite good.....and BMW never say they WILL never return to F1....

I like ALMS, but not as much as F1. I like MotoGP. The X6M is a badass safety car. I thought it was great that BMW was gonna start supplying customer engines in F1. I hope BMW returns to F1. I doubt that it is likely.

F1 is considered my many to be the pinnacle of motor sport. BMW was a competitive force in the sport. Many are sad to see them leave. I'm probably not the only one who is slightly bitter about it. It's actually an exciting time in the sport whether or not BMW is a player. In the end BMW Sauber never captured me as a fan. I wish the new Sauber team a competitive future.

I don't think I would make a vehicle purchase solely on manufacturer participation in a sport but profits from my purchases could go towards my favorite sport. That certainly influenced my recent decision.

Honestly, I'd buy a three cylinder diesel compact BMW but I can't imagine the post apocalyptic future in which they'd actually sell one in this country. They don't offer the incredible 23d engine here. They don't sell alot of their best (engine) products here. The marketing talks about efficiency but they only offer relative large displacement engines in the US. What gives?

The news is constantly bad about companies canceling exciting sports car projects and I understand that BMW is trying to spin the green thing into something exciting. But the new concept is not as cool as the current BMW Sauber F1 car IMO. Not by a long shot.

F1, isn't the sport it use to be, it's very much like the sport of football where the most money spent usually buys victory.

It's an ego trip for most manufacturers, it's doesn't improve global sales even if you are winning but it does give the overall business a kudos when they are. It also use to provide development for new technologies that made it to mainstream production but there has been so much banning to help make competition tight that there is no real incentives for big names to be there and the final nail in the coffin was the expenditure cap.

I would bet that world rallying or touring car racing benefits global sales far more than F1 ever could and hopefully we will see a return and fuller backing to both.

I love F1 more than BMW. Soon after the announcement I got back my deposit for the X6M. I really disagreed with BMW pushing KERS on the sport. The fact that they abandoned that tech somewhat foreshadowed their exit. I just hope their decision doesn't kill the Sauber team. I got my M3 in part because of F1 lineage. Efficient dynamics is a much harder sell than a throttle body for each cylinder. At least to me...

The F1 lineage in the M3 is a load of nonsense- That car is more about ALMS and always has been. The marketing guys got you good. A throttle body per cylinder has been in existence for ever in any form of racing- the thing they should have done was gone direct injection.

BMW has not transferred tech from F1, except in for making the engine block (early 90s tech). The rest was a marketing exercise; and as Footie said- The sport is not like it used to be. The N52 engine being magnesium and aluminum has more tech in it than the ///M3 block, and that has nothing to do with F1 or racing.

There is no longer the ability to develop new things in F1 and the KERS was the last thing to develop- the reason BMW wanted the KERS was so that some on of the F1 development will yield tech for production cars (other manufacturers also wanted this) and to make the sport a bit greener.

ALMS yields just as much in terms of street product as F1- minimal, it is cheaper to operate and has a large following outside the US with US numbers increasing. The IMSA/ALMS push for being green is also a plus. I have had this discussion with the guys from BMW Motorsport and they have said that street cars contribute more to the race cars than vice versa (traction control being one of them).

I am a huge motorsport fan and F1 over the last few seasons has been a bore and really comes down to tire strategy than anything else.... and since you can't change the aero on your own car every week F1 yields nothing.

I like ALMS, but not as much as F1. I like MotoGP. The X6M is a badass safety car. I thought it was great that BMW was gonna start supplying customer engines in F1. I hope BMW returns to F1. I doubt that it is likely.

F1 is considered my many to be the pinnacle of motor sport. BMW was a competitive force in the sport. Many are sad to see them leave. I'm probably not the only one who is slightly bitter about it. It's actually an exciting time in the sport whether or not BMW is a player. In the end BMW Sauber never captured me as a fan. I wish the new Sauber team a competitive future.

I don't think I would make a vehicle purchase solely on manufacturer participation in a sport but profits from my purchases could go towards my favorite sport. That certainly influenced my recent decision.

Honestly, I'd buy a three cylinder diesel compact BMW but I can't imagine the post apocalyptic future in which they'd actually sell one in this country. They don't offer the incredible 23d engine here. They don't sell alot of their best (engine) products here. The marketing talks about efficiency but they only offer relative large displacement engines in the US. What gives?

The news is constantly bad about companies canceling exciting sports car projects and I understand that BMW is trying to spin the green thing into something exciting. But the new concept is not as cool as the current BMW Sauber F1 car IMO. Not by a long shot.

Agree...I hate BMW is going all green crap direction of Efficient Dynamics....and they shound bring more variety engines into North America....

Its very sad to see BMW to leave F1....but good that someone finally purchase the Sauber F1 team and the people working at the Hinwil factory can keep their job....

Sauber and Cosworth...geez...if that happens...they are going to be fast track development with the data and all the cars running them. Let's not forget they also get more lenient rules as a result of being a new entry, higher revs, etc. (if memory serves). It's been a wacky season this year, but next year promises to be even more dramatic...